Multi-decadal accumulation of anthropogenic and remineralized dissolved inorganic carbon at the Extended Ellett Line in the northeast Atlantic Ocean

Humphreys, M.P. et al. (2016) Multi-decadal accumulation of anthropogenic and remineralized dissolved inorganic carbon at the Extended Ellett Line in the northeast Atlantic Ocean. Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 30(2), pp. 293-310. (doi: 10.1002/2015GB005246)

Abstract

Marine carbonate chemistry measurements have been carried out annually since 2009 during UK research cruises along the Extended Ellett Line (EEL), a hydrographic transect in the northeast Atlantic Ocean. The EEL intersects several water masses that are key to the global thermohaline circulation, and therefore the cruises sample a region in which it is critical to monitor secular physical and biogeochemical changes. We have combined results from these EEL cruises with existing quality-controlled observational data syntheses to produce a hydrographic time-series for the EEL from 1981 to 2013. This reveals multi-decadal increases in dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) throughout the water column, with a near-surface maximum rate of 1.80 ± 0.45 µmol kg-1 yr-1. Anthropogenic CO2 accumulation was assessed, using simultaneous changes in apparent oxygen utilization (AOU) and total alkalinity (TA) as proxies for the biogeochemical processes that influence DIC. The stable carbon isotope composition of DIC (δ13CDIC) was also determined, and used as an independent test of our method. We calculated a volume-integrated anthropogenic CO2 accumulation rate of 2.8 ± 0.4 mg-C m-3 yr-1 along the EEL, which is about double the global mean. The anthropogenic CO2 component accounts for only 31 ± 6 % of the total DIC increase. The remainder is derived from increased organic matter remineralization, which we attribute to the lateral redistribution of water masses that accompanies subpolar gyre contraction. Output from a general circulation-ecosystem model demonstrates that spatiotemporal heterogeneity in the observations has not significantly biased our multi-decadal rate-of-change calculations, and indicates that the EEL observations have been tracking distal changes in the surrounding North Atlantic and Nordic Seas.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: The Extended Ellett Line is funded by the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) National Capability programme. We also acknowledge funding by NERC for the PhD studentship to M. P. Humphreys (NE/J500112/1) and the carbon isotope analyses for cruise D379 (IP/1358/1112).
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Boyce, Professor Adrian
• Authors: Humphreys, M.P., Griffiths, A.M., Achterberg, E.P., Holliday, N.P., Rérolle, V.M.C., Barraqueta, J.-L.M., Couldrey, M.P., Oliver, K.I.C., Hartman, S.E., Esposito, M., and Boyce, A.J.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre
• Journal Name: Global Biogeochemical Cycles
• Publisher: American Geophysical Union
• ISSN: 0886-6236
• ISSN (Online): 1944-9224
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2016 The Authors
• First Published: First published in Global Biogeochemical Cycles 30(2): 293-310
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License